Honeybees worldwide are threatened by a mysterious problem known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, where the colony loses significant numbers of adult bees and thus cannot sustain itself. This disorder affects the European Honeybee, a valuable pollinator and honey producer here in the US and in Europe. The cause of CCD is unknown at this time, and beekeepers, scientists, and citizens alike are interested in saving as many bees as possible. For instance, the Aug. 19, 2013 issue of Time Magazine features a front page story on the plight of the honeybee, the Sep. 23, 2013 issue of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review featured a story on the European response to CCD, and the Oct. 2, 2013 issue of the Wall Street Journal features a front page article by Joel Millman entitled “A Scientist Teaches Drones and Queens the Birds and Bees” discussing ways in which scientists are trying to reinvigorate honeybee populations by crossbreeding and introducing more diverse genetic material into native honeybee populations. These articles, and many more, discuss an “all the above” approach to the problem of CCD and saving as many bees as possible.
Honeybees love clover, a common plant found in fields and lawns. The bees are so determined to collect pollen from clover and other flowers ordinarily found in lawns and fields that they will not move out of the way, even with the maw of a noisy lawn mower bearing down on them. In some cases, the lawn mower operator can shoo the bee away from the front of the mower, but in many cases, the bee will tenaciously grasp the flower to avoid being dislodged by even moderately strong winds or agitation by sticks, and worse, the operator often cannot even see the bee, who might be on the underside of the flower or otherwise hidden. Hundreds of bees are killed during a single mowing of a typical American lawn, and about 75% of the bees killed by mowing are the ones busy pollinating flowers in the mowed vegetation. Furthermore, placing anything in front of an operational lawn mower creates a danger to the operator, as any attachment to the front of the lawn mowing machine may inhibit the operation of the mower itself and distractions in general are dangerous.
What is needed is a method and assembly to displace bees from fields and lawns that does not harm the bees, is easy to use, and can be safely retrofitted to a number of different lawn mowing machine styles.